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Lester B. Pearson Facts & Worksheets

Lester B. Pearson was known as the Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968 and was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1957.

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Lester Bowles Pearson was known as the Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968 and was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1957 after his victorious effort in attaining peace during the Suez Canal crisis. He was considered among the most influential Canadians of the 20th century.

See the fact file below for more information on the Lester B. Pearson or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Lester B. Pearson worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Lester Bowles Pearson was born on April 23, 1897, in Newtonbrook in the township of York in Ontario, Canada.
  • He was the son of a Methodist minister, now United Church of Canada, and Annie Sarah Bowles. His brothers were Vaughan Whitier Pearson and Marmaduke Pearson.
  • As a son of a minister, his family moved from one parsonage to another. Pearson acquired different values from various places in Southern Ontario because of the frequent change of their residence.
  • Pearson graduated from Hamilton Collegiate Institute at the age of 16. He entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto in the same year where he lived at Gate House and shared a room with his brother, Duke.
  • His outstanding academic performance in history and sociology made him a recipient of Pi Gamma Mu. He later won the Massey Foundation scholarship, which enabled him to study at St. John’s College in Oxford.
  • Pearson not only excelled academically but also in sports. The Canadian native was able to play semi-pro with the Ontario Intercounty Baseball League. He also played ice hockey and lacrosse and won his blues in both.

WORLD WAR I

  • Pearson was only seventeen years old when World War I broke out. Because he was too young to enlist as a private, he volunteered to serve with the University of Toronto Hospital Unit. He entered the Canadian Army Medical Corps, where he spent two years in Egypt and Greece.
  • He eventually transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he served as a Flying Officer. While being a pilot, his flight instructor gave him the nickname “Mike.” His teacher felt “Lester” was too mild a name for an airman.
  • His friends and colleagues started addressing him as Mike and only he used Lester on official documents.
  • He survived a plane crash and was hit by a bus during a blackout in 1918. He was sent home in the same year.
  • Back home, he served as a training instructor while continuing his studies at the University. He received his B.A. in 1919 from the University of Toronto and joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He then worked in the meat-packing industry at Hamilton and Chicago.
  • After completing his M.A. in 1924, he taught history at Toronto University and coached the Varsity Blues Canadian football and ice hockey teams.
  • He left the academic world in 1928 to accept a position as the first secretary in the Canadian Department of External Affairs.

POLITICAL CAREER

  • He was assigned as the second-in-command in the High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom, serving under High Commissioner Vincent Massey in 1935. He coordinated military supply and refugee problems
  • He was appointed assistant undersecretary of state for External Affairs in Ottawa in May 1941. After a year, he was named minister-counsellor at the Canadian Legation in Washington in June 1942 and was promoted to the rank of “minister plenipotentiary” in June 1942.
  • He served as a Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. from 1945-1946.In 1946, Pearson took over the post of undersecretary of state for External Affairs, which he only held for two years.
  • In 1948, the secretary of State, Louis St. Laurent, became the Prime Minister of a Liberal government. Pearson became minister of external affairs, subsequently representing Algoma East, Ontario, in the House of Commons.
  • As a minister, he helped lead Canada into the Korean War as a contributor to the UN army. He chaired the NATO council in 1951 – 1952, and as a president of the UN General Assembly in 1952, he tried to find a solution to the conflict that lead to the said war. Americans accused him of being too inclined to compromise on difficult points.
  • When Egypt took over Suez Canal, the United Kingdom, the French, and the Israeli secretly planned and carried out an attack in Egypt on October 29, 1956. Other countries responded to this. The Soviets were ready to aid Egyptians, and the Australians backed the British action. America and particularly Canada, for the first time, opposed a British War.
  • Pearson worked closely with the Americans and tried to craft a solution that would end the divisions and reduce the tensions rallying towards a broader war.
  • On November 4, 1956, the UN supported the Canadian resolution to create a peace force. It made the British and France back down, and on October 14, 1957, Pearson received the Nobel Peace Prize.

BEING A PRIME MINISTER

  • The liberals were defeated in the 1957 election, and Pearson had to relinquish his cabinet post but became the liberal party head on January 16, 1958.
  • Six years later, the conservatives lost the electorate’s confidence after its indecision on the issues raised by the Cuban confrontations between the United States and Russia. Pearson, on the other hand, announced his willingness to accept nuclear warheads from the United States.
  • A national election occurred in 1963, and Pearson became the Prime Minister on April 22.
  • His term began with a shaky start. Favorable results polls eluded him. There was the appearance of a separatist movement that placed a bomb in Quebec and killed a janitor working in a Canadian army recruiting office.
  • Despite its rocky start, the Pearson government accomplished some social legislation, including the Canada Assistance Plan in 1966, to fund the provincial welfare program and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
  • The government provided more funds for university research and university capital expenditures and created the Canada Student Loan Plan in 1964, transforming the Canadian university system.
  • In 1965, the Pearson government launched an apolitical immigration board, which made significant changes to Canada’s immigration policy.
  • The liberals also pushed to fulfill their promise of a health care program. It materialized when the parliament passed the Medical Care Act in 1966.
  • Canada had no official flag up to the time Pearson became the Prime Minister. He was the only liberal leader who persisted in having a national flag and putting it up against the advice of many that he was creating a political difference over a purely symbolic issue. On December 15, Pearson managed to secure approval of the flag’s design made by Liberal MP John Ross Matheson and it was raised on February 15, 1965.
  • Pearson retired as Prime Minister in 1968. He still chaired the Commission on International Development and chaired the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Center from 1970 to 1972. He conducted some lectures and eventually became the Chancellor of Carleton University.

PERSONAL LIFE

  • Pearson was married to Maryon Moody from Winnipeg who had been one of his students at the University of Toronto. They got married in 1925 and had one son and a daughter named George and Patricia.
  • In 1970, Pearson underwent surgery to remove his right eye and eliminate a tumor in that area. But on December 27, 1972, it was announced that Pearson had lapsed into a coma after cancer spread to his liver. He died on December 27, 1972, in his Ottawa home.

Lester B. Pearson Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Lester B. Pearson across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Lester B. Pearson worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Lester Bowles Pearson who was known as the Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968 and was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1957 after his victorious effort in attaining peace during the Suez Canal crisis. He was considered among the most influential Canadians of the 20th century.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Lester B. Pearson Facts
  • The Prime Minister Bio
  • In Four Words
  • World War Experience
  • The Pearson’s Inquiry
  • On His Way to Leadership
  • Pearson’s Fact or Bluff
  • Pearson’s Legacy
  • World Peace
  • The Diplomat’s Speech
  • Design Your Own Flag

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